Small-molecule antagonists disable discrete biochemical properties of protein targets. For multi-domain protein targets, the pharmacologic consequence of drug action is limited by selective disruption of one domain-specific activity. More broadly, target inhibition is kinetically limited by the durability and degree of target engagement. These features of traditional drug molecules are challenging to the development of inhibitors targeting transcription factors and chromatin-associated epigenetic proteins, which function as multi-domain biomolecular scaffolds and generally feature rapid association and dissociation kinetics. We therefore devised a chemical strategy to prompt ligand-dependent target protein degradation, via chemical conjugation with derivatized phthalimides that hijack the function of the Cereblon E3 ubiquitin ligase complex. Using this approach, we converted an acetyl-lysine competitive antagonist that displaces BET bromodomains from chromatin (JQ1) to a phthalimide-conjugated ligand that prompts immediate Cereblon-dependent BET protein degradation (dBET1). Expression proteomics confirms high specificity for BET family members BRD2, BRD3 and BRD4 among 7429 proteins detected. Degradation of BET bromodomains is associated with a more rapid and robust apoptotic response compared to bromodomain inhibition in primary human leukemic blasts, and dBET1 exhibits in vivo efficacy in a human leukemia xenograft. The reach of this approach is illustrated by a second series of probes that degrade the cytosolic signaling protein, FKBP12. Together, these findings identify a facile and general new strategy to control target protein stability, with implications for approaching previously intractable protein targets.

Dissection of complex biological systems requires target-specific control of the function or abundance of proteins. Genetic perturbations are limited by off-target effects, multicomponent complexity, and irreversibility. Most limiting is the requisite delay between modulation to experimental measurement. To enable the immediate and selective control of single protein abundance, we created a chemical biology system that leverages the potency of cell-permeable heterobifunctional degraders. The dTAG system pairs a novel degrader of FKBP12 with expression of FKBP12 in-frame with a protein of interest. By transgene expression or CRISPR-mediated locus-specific knock-in, we exemplify a generalizable strategy to study the immediate consequence of protein loss. Using dTAG, we observe an unexpected superior antiproliferative effect of pan-BET bromodomain degradation over selective BRD4 degradation, characterize immediate effects of KRAS loss on proteomic signaling, and demonstrate rapid degradation in vivo. This technology platform will confer kinetic resolution to biological investigation and provide target validation in the context of drug discovery.

SUMMARY Processive elongation of RNA Polymerase II from a proximal promoter paused state is a rate-limiting event in human gene control. A small number of regulatory factors influence transcription elongation on a global scale. Prior research using small-molecule BET bromodomain inhibitors, such as JQ1, linked BRD4 to context-specific elongation at a limited number of genes associated with massive enhancer regions. Here, the mechanistic characterization of an optimized chemical degrader of BET bromodomain proteins, dBET6, led to the unexpected identification of BET proteins as master regulators of global transcription elongation. In contrast to the selective effect of bromodomain inhibition on transcription, BET degradation prompts a collapse of global elongation that phenocopies CDK9 inhibition. Notably, BRD4 loss does not directly affect CDK9 localization. These studies, performed in translational models of T cell leukemia, establish a mechanism-based rationale for the development of BET bromodomain degradation as cancer therapy.

The discovery of cancer dependencies has the potential to inform therapeutic strategies and to identify putative drug targets. Integrating data from comprehensive genomic profiling of cancer cell lines and from functional characterization of cancer cell dependencies, we discovered that loss of the enzyme methylthioadenosine phosphorylase (MTAP) confers a selective dependence on protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5) and its binding partner WDR77. MTAP is frequently lost due to its proximity to the commonly deleted tumor suppressor gene, CDKN2A. We observed increased intracellular concentrations of methylthioadenosine (MTA; the metabolite cleaved by MTAP) in cells harboring MTAP deletions. Furthermore, MTA specifically inhibited PRMT5 enzymatic activity. Administration of either MTA or a small molecule PRMT5 inhibitor showed a modest preferential impairment of cell viability for MTAP-null cancer cell lines compared to isogenic MTAP-expressing counterparts. Together, our findings reveal PRMT5 as a potential vulnerability across multiple cancer lineages augmented by a common “passenger” genomic alteration.